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In this episode of CounterPunch Radio, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt speaks with Dr. Nadine Ortega, co-founder of Tagnawa Hawai’i, about grassroots mutual aid disaster recovery. Dr. Ortega breaks down the socio-economic and historical conditions that have led to the recent Kona Low flooding on O’ahu and the 2023 Lahaina, Maui fires, which have disproportionately affected Native Hawaiian, Filipino, and other immigrant communities. She shares stories about the importance of cross-class and interethnic organizing when state-run disaster response fails.

Visit Tagnawa.org for more information.

The post When State Disaster Response Fails w/ Dr. Nadine Ortega appeared first on CounterPunch.org.


This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by CounterPunch Radio.

Citations

[1] Tagnawa: Empowering Filipino Immigrants through Environmental Justice in Hawai'i ➤ https://www.tagnawa.org/[2] When State Disaster Response Fails w/ Dr. Nadine Ortega - CounterPunch.org ➤ https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/05/when-state-disaster-response-fails-w-dr-nadine-ortega/[3] Home - CounterPunch.org ➤ https://www.counterpunch.org/